2 Uconn Schools Face Possible Consolidation

STORRS — Two University of Connecticut schools that escaped elimination earlier this year have been asked to study consolidating with other schools on campus.

Provost Thomas J. Tighe has asked faculty at the schools of Allied Health Professions and Family Studies to examine mergers that could save money.

Allied Health would study merging with the School of Nursing, and Family Studies would investigate becoming part of the School of Education or the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

The nursing faculty already has voted against such a merger, UConn officials said.

Tighe unveiled a plan to the board of trustees Friday intended to make UConn's academic departments run more efficiently and save money. UConn has struggled with two years of budget deficits, with academic departments freezing some faculty positions and raising the size of classes.

Tighe has asked each department to look for ways to restructure its curriculum to be more efficient and give students a clear path toward degrees.

He will ask the university Senate next week to form a special committee to see which undergraduate courses might be taught together or taught through video technology.

Other departments, such as the library and computer center, have been asked to find ways to operate less expensively, and faculty members are being urged to look for ways to generate revenue.

If all parts of the plan are followed, it could enhance instruction, stabilize the finances of academic programs and give faculty members a chance to be creative, Tighe wrote in a memorandum to trustees.

While the board is beginning a similar strategic planning effort, administrators said it is critical to begin now and involve faculty.

"We're saying we can't wait," Associate Provost Judith W. Meyer

said. "This kind of activity goes on all the time, but we need to highlight it and concentrate it in response to fiscal problems."

She said the plan differs from February's recommendations by a campus committee that Allied Health and Family Studies be dismantled because the focus is on operating more efficiently. After an uproar by students, faculty members and parents, the schools were saved in the spring after the state legislature added $8 million to UConn's budget.

Stephen A. Anderson, acting dean of family studies, said people aren't panicking this time because programs won't be cut and faculty members won't be laid off. But the school still feels as if it's been targeted, he said.

"It feels like Chapter 2, but it's got a different plot this time," he said. "The faculty knew we weren't done, so it's not a surprise to anyone."

Anderson said he would prefer the school be kept intact but is willing to look at mergers.

"I think we need to restructure. The federal government's doing it. The state is reorganizing some departments. Companies are downsizing," he said. "It's a sign of the times.